Archive for the 'commentary' Category

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Alan Lee, Formative & Summative Validity

Published on February 14, 2009 in commentary, conferences and research. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

alan_leeIn a very provocative research seminar at GSU yesterday, Alan Lee explained how information systems researchers typically test how well the data fits their model (establish formative validity, modus ponens), but rarely test how well the theory works, or predicts (establish summative validity, modus tollens).

Here is a few other items I noted:

  • He asked: Instead of doing a grounded theory investigation of the literature, why not do a hermeneutic interpretation? He cited scholars who have said that the logic of the hermeneutic circle is hypothetical deductive reasoning, which is the logic of modus tollens (summative).
  • He sees a truce between the different research camps (qualitative, quantitative, etc.) not an open armed embracing, all-on-the-same-team feeling. I can see that.
  • In his paper, there are useful tables which outline how each research method area uses formative and summative validity… formative validity is found in the hermeneutic circle, replication across cases and the principle of dialogical reasoning.
  • There was a discussion about how methodological papers can become a check-list for researchers, which stifles creativity in methods.

His paper should be published in MISQ.

Gmail goes offline

Published on February 13, 2009 in commentary, discoveries and software. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

gmailInstead of having multiple email accounts, I have everything forwarded to gmail where I have it rigorously sorted through hundereds of filters and labels. I am currently using 5432 MB or 74% of my alloted space. 

I must have been snoozing because offline gmail came out a few weeks ago and I missed it. This should be extremely useful. There has even been a new release already.

Many people are unaware that you can add dots to your gmail adddress. Instead of putting tim@gmail.com I could put t.im@gmail.com, and it would still get to me. I can give online stores my t.im@gmail address, and then filter out those messages if I wish.

ditch EBSCO and ProQuest

Published on February 11, 2009 in commentary and research. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

proquestEBSCO and ProQuest are easy to use to find PDFs of research journal articles, however, their PDFs are very large, and poor quality. My friend Chad passed me this list of direct links to journals where higher quality, and smaller PDFs can be found. These links work best if you are on a university network. Here they are:

MIS Quarterly   1977-present

Information Systems Research    Back issues are currently unavailable

Journal of Management Information Systems  2000-2007
Communications of AIS    1999-present
Journal of AIS   2000-present
European Journal of Information Systems    1997-present
Information & Organization    2001-present
Decision Support Systems    1985-present
Organization Science   2001-present
Management Science    2001-present
Journal of Strategic Information Systems    1991-present
Information & Management    1977-present 

I have been impressed with the quality and consistency of sciencedirect.

Have any more good links? Add them in comments!

Open Innovation in the news

Published on February 3, 2009 in commentary and open-innovation. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Mentions of Open Innovation continue to appear in diverse places. Here are a few mentions in the past day or so.

A FastCompany expert blog tells how PetMD is choosing not to adopt Open Innovation blindly, to differentiate itself from its competitors.

Jeong Kim, President of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs tells how the new joint research lab with Institut Telecom “represoecdents another important step forward for us  in realizing our open innovation strategy”.

Science Archived links to an OECD study which lists Open Innovation as a recent trend in the innovation process.

Netweaving, a few insights

Published on January 29, 2009 in commentary and conferences. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

art_and_heart_of_netweavingThe Atlanta Management Society put on a lunch seminar at the Emory Business School on Netweaving today. The inventor of the concept, Bob Littell, explained that if networking is about “What’s in it for me”, Netweaving is about “What can I do for you”. Thus it relies on reciprocity. Another key is introducing people to each other. He has encouraged Georgia State MBA students to read the Atlanta Business Chronicle and setup meetings between two news makers.

Two insights:

  • When in a networking situation, skip long spells of small-talk, initiate meaningful dialogue by asking questions such as, “What is the best business book you have read in the last few years, or what are the challenges and issues your industry is currently facing?” Small talk does not develop meaningful relationships.
  • Instead of just sending an email to a new contact saying “good to meet you” – send them a useful resource with your summary of the key takeaways.

If you are interested — there is the Netweaver skills assessment, and the Netweaver’s creed (pdf).

Requirements Engineering Design Model

Published on January 29, 2009 in commentary, discoveries and software. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

Designing software and websites is not at all like designing a building or city planning. This model is quite useful to help understand the process. I found this preparing for class.

Requirements Engineering Design Model

Requirements Engineering Design Model

Here is a summary of the model from the article:

Summary: Requirements engineering is an iterative exercise; often, the purpose of going through the exercise is to define the problem itself, and in the process, refine requirements. That is, an initially fuzzy requirement gets clarified through discussion, leading to other, more specific requirements. While the model has been motivated by requirements engineering, its components are generic enough to be applicable across various phases of the life cycle.

The model is from Ramesh and Dhar 1992
, based on the IBIS model by Kunz and Rittel. References below.

Kunz, W., & Rittel, H. W. J. (1970). Issues as Elements of Information Systems. Institute of Urban & Regional Development, University of California.

Ramesh, B., & Dhar, V. (1992). Supporting systems development by capturing deliberations during requirements engineering. Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, 18(6), 498-510. doi: 10.1109/32.142872.

Is education improvement the new “Green”?

Published on January 23, 2009 in commentary, disruptive innovation and education. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

time-cover2I saw this post on Gartner’s Hype Cycle Blog. It points to several news sources which talk about how Time’s Earth Day issue was the third lowest selling of 2008, and how people are tired of hearing about Green issues.

As I read Clayton Christensen‘s Disrupting Class book, and saw Rob Preston‘s reaction to it here and again here — I can’t help but think that educational improvement issues are replacing “Green issues” in the press, and thus on their way up the hype cycle.

I recently ran across a disruptive university education technique — the unCourse or Open Studies class which is outlined here. It has been put into practice at BYU already… look at the unclass website.

Ann Majchrzak’s Wiki Research

Published on January 23, 2009 in commentary. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Ann Majchrzak presented some of her recent research at GSU yesterday. Fascinating work. She developed two constructs:

  • Expertise Sharers – those who freely contribute expert knowledge to a wiki
  • Expertise Integrators – those who build-on, synthesize, and convert expert knowledge to make a coherent wiki

While people definitely act as both expertise sharers and integrators, defining these two roles is quite helpful. It also ties in well to this article, which basically says that 1400 obsessed freaks (read: integrators) who all know each other, wrote the worlds largest encyclopedia for free over 4 years. Incredible.

I would guess they are all obsessive compulsive copy editors. I salute them.

How to speed up your PhD program

Published on January 16, 2009 in commentary. Closed Tags: , , .

thechronicleI read an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education today titled: Economists Ponder How to Help Speed Up Ph.D. Completion. It tells of Wendy Stock‘s study (pdf) of 586 students who entered 27 doctoral programs in 2002.

After five years, 27 percent of the students had finished their degrees, 34 percent had dropped out, and 39 percent were still working toward their degrees.

Not too good! The study tried to tease out the explanatory factors:

Students are less likely to finish on time if the program does not offer every first-year student a shared office space. If a large number of students drop out in the first two years, the survivors are less likely to finish on time. And—to Ms. Stock’s surprise—students are more likely to finish on time if they enter as part of a large cohort.

I share office space with 6-8 students, nobody has dropped out since the center began six years ago, and my cohort has 4 students. Perhaps I am right on track. It also helps to be a part of 20-25 students who are also studying in the same discipline.

The implications of Informal Learning

Published on January 15, 2009 in commentary and open-innovation. Closed Tags: , , .

I was browsing Gartner’s Hype Cycle Blog, and found something interesting by Richard Straub at the Training Zone on Informal Learning.

He shares that in IBM’s 2008 survey of 1,100 CEOs:

more than 40% are changing their enterprise models to be more open and collaborative.

A significant number… Unfortunately he does not elaborate on this point, but rather the important role of Informal Learning in today’s world. The first comment states that Informal Learning is what we do everyday – learning on the job, in the process of “putting out fires”. I would agree, but I think Straub’s remark shows there is something more:

“We are on the threshold of a paradigm shift in learning. We have new learning environments and tools that enable us to access knowledge more effectively and to share and collaborate in better ways.”

Even though this sounds like a cheap management book, I agree with it. It seems that the relatively small number of people who are very active (look at Tim O’reilly)  in the blogosphere operate under a different paradigm than the mainstream. But, things are changing.